A public preview of Windows 8.1 will be made available for consumers to try out during Microsoft's BUILD conference, which will take place from June 26 to June 28.

Windows 8.1 is expected to bring back some semblance of the iconic "Start" button and will make an effort to ensure that customer feedback doesn't go unanswered. "We are being very real about what needs to change and changing it as thoughtfully and quickly as we can," said Windows Chief Julie Larson-Green.

Microsoft's Julie Larson-Green

“We're not sitting back and saying, they will get used to it. We've considered a lot of different scenarios to help traditional PC users move forward as well as making usability that much better on all devices."

quote: The technically ept will install Start8 or something similar and get along witn Win8 just fine. But the vast majority of the market is technically inept - even to the point of doing something that seems so ridiculously simple to DT readers. So if 8.1 doesn't restore a *real* Start menu and desktop, fully, with the absolute ability to avoid ever even seeing the Metrosexual UI, it's not going to help.

You keep saying this, but the reality is that you are wrong. It's only the technically ept individuals who have a problem with Metro at all. People who are technically inept love Metro, and they also happen to be the majority of the market.

quote: You keep saying this, but the reality is that you are wrong. It's only the technically ept individuals who have a problem with Metro at all. People who are technically inept love Metro, and they also happen to be the majority of the market.

If that were true, sales would have barely declined at all.

However...sales have dropped through the basement. And I know a *lot* of technically inept PC users...and not a single one has ever described Win8 in terms other than disgust.

There is not a single doubt that unskilled PC users HATE Win8 even more than skilled IT folks. The reality of the PC market would be wildly different if that wasn't the case.